Hispanic Federation Celebrates Critical Step to Lower Overtime Threshold for New York Farmworkers
For Immediate Release: October 4, 2022
Contact: media@hispanicfederation.org
NEW YORK — Following the New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon’s order accepting the recommendation of the Farm Laborers Wage Board to lower the farmworker overtime threshold to 40 hours per week over the course of 10 years, Frankie Miranda, President and CEO of Hispanic Federation, released the following statement:
“Hispanic Federation applauds Commissioner Roberta Reardon and Governor Hochul’s landmark decision to accept the Farm Laborers Wage Board recommendation to lower the overtime threshold to 40 hours per week over the course of 10 years. Although a decade to get to 40 hours for overtime is a long road ahead, the reduction of four hours every two years until 2032 will lead to significant change in the lives of our farmworkers and their families in New York State. Our farmworkers make it possible for us to put fresh food on the table and keep New York families fed, yet they have continued to be shortchanged in their wages as they power through exhaustion and work under trying and dangerous conditions. It is time we made steps to honor and acknowledge their sacrifices and uphold their labor rights. This decision is certainly a step in the right direction.
In 2019, the New York State Legislature passed a bill that finally granted farmworkers the right to collective bargaining, a day of rest, unemployment insurance, and overtime pay; but that bill did not grant overtime pay until workers reached 60 hours per week. Commissioner Reardon’s new decision rights the wrongs of that bill and recognizes with more than words the workers who continue to give so much to feed and nourish all New Yorkers. With this decision, these workers are on a path that will lead to being compensated for their overtime work at a fair and just rate.
We thank Governor Kathy Hochul and Commissioner Reardon for what this critical step will mean for farmworkers and their families, and thank those workers for the service they provide to the state of New York. Their labor is the backbone of our agricultural sector and our livelihood and we are thankful to protect their right to fair pay.”
